Replicate a trading program

Enable includes a replicate trading program function that can either be triggered manually by a user or automatically by the system.

Manual replication

To manually replicate a trading program, you will need to navigate to the trading program management page, which can be accessed via the Browse menu at the top of the page, clicking on Trading partners (e.g. suppliers) in the drop-down menu, selecting a trading partner from the list and then selecting a trading program from the panel that appears from the right of the screen.

When you click the Replicate button on the trading program management page (as shown below), you will be prompted to choose whether you wish to replicate to the current period or to the next period.

When replicating to current period the trading program will be replicated as a proposal by default. When replicating to next period you will have the option to choose whether to replicate as either a proposal or an active/interim trading program.

The next period option is only available for trading programs which span a whole number of months. This does not necessarily require that the trading programs start and end dates coincide with month start and end dates. The simplest version of next period replication is for a whole month.

For example, if a trading program were to run from November 1^st to November 30^th, the next period would be December 1^st to December 31^st. This is also possible for multiple months, e.g. for October 1^st to November 30^th, the next period would be December 1^st to January 31^st.

The trading program can also start somewhere within a month, but only if it ends the day before it started. For example, for November 10^th to December 9^th, the next period would be December 10^th to January 9^th.

Please note — next period replication is not an option when the trading program does not cover a whole number of months, e.g. for November 10^th to December 8^th, there is no next period option.

When a trading program is replicated, the replicated trading program will be identical to the original trading program from which it was replicated, except that:

• If you select Next period, all dates in the replicated trading program will be offset by the length of the original trading program;

• The text ‘(replica)’ and a number for the replica is added as a suffix to the reference for the replica trading program;

• Where a program line has manual overrides in place, it is replicated with the overrides disabled;

• Deduction relationships between the program lines within a trading program are only replicated when the trading program has no program lines with duplicate program line references. If any duplicate program line references for the replicated trading program, the deduction relationships are lost during replication.

It is also possible for Trading Programs to update year notation during replication. For example, an annual program line called 'Program Line 2020' would be replicated to 'Program Line 2021' when the trading program is replicated for the next period.

Automatic replication

Alternatively, it is possible for Enable to automatically replicate a trading program to the next period based on the start and end dates of the current trading program. This can be configured on a per trading partner, or per trading program type basis, so you have control over which trading programs this can be applied to.

The 'next period' is determined based on the number of months in the trading program. For example, if a trading program runs for 12 months, then the start date of the replica trading program will be 12 months after the start date of the trading program and the end date of the replica trading program will be 12 months after the end date of the trading program.

The Enable team can set up any of the following automatic replication configuration options:

• Automatically replicate trading programs as proposals - When a trading program is coming to the end, you can replicate it to the next period as a draft proposal so that you can make changes during negotiations before becomes signed off.
• Automatically replicate trading programs as active trading programs - You may automatically replicate trading programs to be active if they will not need any changes. In this case they will be ready to earn rebate straight away.
• Automatically replicate trading programs as interim trading programs - When a trading program is coming to an end, you may wish to automatically create an interim trading program so that you can accrue based on the previous trading program's terms whilst you are still negotiating any changes to the next period's proposal scheme.
• Automatically replicate interim trading programs as proposals - When a trading program is coming to an end, you may use interim trading programs to continue accruing. This interim trading program can then be replicated as a proposal.

You may choose between automatically replicating any of your trading programs, or fully signed trading programs only. You may also choose if you would like a trading program to automatically replicate a certain number of months before the end date. For example, if your trading program ends on 31st December, we can set it to replicate to the next period on the 31st November. 

For trading programs to automatically replicate there are some conditions:

• The trading program must cover a whole number of months.
• The trading program end date must not yet have passed.
• The trading program must not have already previously been automatically replicated.

When a trading program is replicated, the trading program reference will be appended with "(replica)", so that it is clear which trading program was replicated. Also, if you wish, the replication process can automatically update the date included in the trading program reference or description. For example, if the current trading program reference is "2020 Agreement", when it is automatically replicated to the next period it would become "2021 Agreement (replica)".

All the program lines within the automatically replicated trading program will be replicated as part of this process. Other details, such as accrual bands and terms items, will also be replicated and therefore, you would need to manually change these if required.